Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Episode 12

October 24, 2009

This last episode of Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is most magnificent. Schrödinger’s cat, or rather the theory that it represents (or kind of represents if you twist is around enough), is always ripe for a bit of comedy, and it also serves as a perfect fit for the kind of themes that Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei loves so much. So, we’re introduced to various hilarious concepts from Schrödinger’s forehead (has he gone bald or not? The possibilities are infinite!) right the way through to Schrödinger’s wife (although Chiri rather spoils the latter by revealing the “interesting” individual within the box. It’s great stuff, and very much typical of this franchise.However, even this pales into comparison with the satirical genius of the next segment, as a missile launched from some foreign nation (hmmm, I wonder who that could be?) lands in the school grounds. But what should Nozomu and company do about it – Call the authorities and risk being silenced, call the media who might be untrustworthy, or something else entirely? From attempts to make the missile look like a baseball mound complete with a diamond that only makes things worse (which made me laugh until I cried), to trying to pass it off as a time capsule (not a bad idea, considering its contents), this was top-notch comedy from beginning to end – Dare I say one of the best segments of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ever? Finally, we return to a scenario from what seems like a million years ago, with Rin trying to go places without leaving her estate and simply buying everything in her path as a result. From ramen shops to karaoke venues, nowhere is too much trouble for Rin’s travels (and the family wallet), until they inevitably end up buying the school in a segment that could never hope to live up to the glory of the humour that came before it. Still, two out of three rip-roaring joke segments is good enough for me (and I don’t even know what to say about the “Naughty Ms. Kaede” – You just know that would sell in Japan on Blu-Ray, and I guess that’s kind of the satirical point), so once again I’m sad to think that this is the last episode of this series.